Andhra HC directs CID not to arrest Lokesh till Oct 4

The Andhra Pradesh High Court has directed the CID not to arrest Telugu Desam Party (TDP) General Secretary Nara Lokesh in the Skill Development and AP FiberNet scams till October 4.

Amaravati: The Andhra Pradesh High Court has directed the CID not to arrest Telugu Desam Party (TDP) General Secretary Nara Lokesh in the Skill Development and AP FiberNet scams till October 4.

The High Court passed the interim order on petitions of Lokesh, son of TDP supremo and former Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu, who is already in judicial custody in Skill Development scam.seeking anticipatory bail in both the cases.

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The court took up, post lunch, the petitions for hearing and later adjourned the same till October 4. It also adjourned hearing on Lokesh’s anticipatory bail petition in AP FiberNet case.

Earlier, the court disposed of a petition filed by Lokesh for anticipatory bail in Amaravati Inner Ring Road case after the CID informed it that it will issue notice to Lokesh under Section 41A of Criminal Procedure Code.

Advocate General Subrahmanyam Sriram informed the court that Lokesh will be issued a notice under 41A of CrPC for questioning in the case. Since the arrest is not apprehended in the case, the court disposed of TDP leader’s petition after directing him to cooperate in the investigation.

The CID had Tuesday filed a memo in Vijayawada ACB Court, naming Lokesh as the 14th accused in the case.

The CID has already named Naidu as an accused in the Amaravati Inner Ring Road case and AP FiberNet case and filed Prisoner Transit (PT) warrant petitions against him in Vijayawada ACB Court.

Naidu has also filed petitions in the High Court for anticipatory bail in both the cases.

In May 2022, the CID had registered an FIR against Chandrababu Naidu, former Municipal Administration Minister Dr P. Narayana, Heritage Foods Ltd, and others, for alleged irregularities in the construction of an internal ring road in Amaravati.

The FIR was filed based on a complaint from YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) Mangalgiri MLA A. Rama Krishna Reddy, who alleged that certain illegal and corrupt activities were committed by highly placed government officials between 2014 and 2019 with regard to the design of master plan for the Andhra Pradesh capital and alignment of the ring road to cause wrongful gain to certain individuals.

Heritage Foods is a company owned by Chandrababu Naidu’s family. The CID had stated that it is probing Lokesh’s role in all three scams. The scams allegedly took place when Naidu was the Chief Minister and Lokesh was a minister in his cabinet.